Github reinstates the YouTube-dl project, Microsoft promises to hire legal experts to help developers
Earlier, the Recording Association of America, which represented the recording industry in the United States, submitted a DMCA notice to Github to delete the repository of the well-known open-source project YouTube-dl.
According to the American Recording Association, the company believes that the source code provided by this project is used to circumvent copyright protection and can download a large number of copyrighted songs.
Therefore, the association requires Github to delete the YouTube-dl project in accordance with the DMCA, the Digital Millennium Copyright Law, and Github also deletes the corresponding project as required after receiving the DMCA request.
Although this open-source project can objectively be used to circumvent Google’s copyright protection, it does not host any copyrighted content in the project repository.
Usually, deletion in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act refers to the deletion of directly infringing content, so filing a complaint against the download tool seems to abuse copyright protection.
The media said that this behavior of the Recording Association of America may set a precedent for the abuse of copyright protection, and if it is not stopped, there may be more abuses in the future.
For example, browsers can download copyrighted content circulating on the Internet. According to the American Recording Association, these browsers should also be completely deleted.
It is not only the Recording Association of America that has been criticized by a large number of users. After being protested by a large number of users, Github finally reviewed the project and decided to resume the project.
“Youtube-DL desde consola” by .::Element2048::. is licensed under CC BY 2.0
The deletion was because Microsoft had to respond to the request to deal with copyrighted content, but it is estimated that Microsoft did not expect that deleting an open-source project would cause huge controversy.
After all, Microsoft deletes a large number of complained items from the repository every day, but this time the item is special, so Microsoft finally decided to review it again.
The result of the review was that Microsoft determined that the project did not circumvent new information about technical protection measures. Based on this situation, Microsoft decided to immediately restore the deleted repository. Github writes:
Most takedown notices we receive allege copyright infringement—that someone used their copyrighted work (often software code) in a way that infringes their rights. But as many people noticed, the youtube-dl takedown notice fell into a more unusual category: anticircumvention—an allegation that the code was designed to circumvent technical measures that control access or copying of copyrighted material, in violation of Section 1201 of the DMCA.
Section 1201 dates back to the late 1990s and did not anticipate the various implications it has for software use today. As a result, Section 1201 makes it illegal to use or distribute technology (including source code) that bypasses technical measures that control access or copying of copyrighted works, even if that technology can be used in a way that would not be copyright infringement. Circumvention was the core claim in the youtube-dl takedown.
At the same time, Microsoft promised that in order to avoid this situation from happening again, the company will invest additional investment in hiring legal experts specifically to review and handle such requests.
In addition, if a development project is deleted, it can also be appealed. Microsoft promises to work with developers to resolve the deletion risk so that the repository can be restored.
Via: xda-developers
